Deaths

Deane W. Malott

Former KU Chancellor Deane W. Malott, 98, died Sept. 11 at his home in Ithaca, N.Y. Memorial services will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20, in Sage Chapel on the Cornell University campus in Ithaca with a reception to follow in the Johnson Museum of Art.

Chancellor Malott was KU's eighth chancellor, serving from 1939 to 1951. He was known for his efforts to beautify the campus and was instrumental in bringing many military training programs to KU during World War II.

"I am saddened by the news of the death of Deane Malott. This
is a great loss to KU," said Chancellor Robert Hemenway. "Although I never had the opportunity to meet Chancellor Malott, we did correspond. I found him to be remarkably perceptive about current problems in higher education. His words were of assistance and encouragement to me."

Chancellor Malott was the first KU alumnus and native Kansan to serve as a KU chancellor. A native of Abilene, he graduated from KU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in 1921.

Chancellor Malott earned a master of business administration degree from Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., and served as assistant dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Business until 1929, when he left the school to become vice president of Dole Pineapple Co. He returned to Harvard business school as associate professor and assistant dean in 1933.

During World War II, Chancellor Malott kept KU's campus busy by convincing the federal government to use KU as a center for military training. He also instituted new courses of particular use to women for the war effort, including occupational therapy, physical therapy and engineering drawing.
In 1940, enrollment was 4,354 students, but it never dropped to fewer than 2,700 during the war. In the last year of the war, 1945, enrollment was 3,808; in 1946, it jumped to 9,004 and to 9,491 in 1947.

Chancellor Malott began a building program that added Malott Hall, Allen Field House and the World War II Memorial Campanile and Drive, and renovated Fowler Shops - now Stauffer-Flint Hall - and expanded the Kansas Union. To cope with the postwar housing shortage, he began the student-housing system.

Chancellor Malott was well-known for his ability to work with the Kansas Legislature. KU's annual operating budget from the Legislature was about $1.2 million when he arrived. It was $6.5 million when he left. He also started the first program of state-supported research.

Under the leadership of Chancellor Malott and his wife, 1,200 crab apple trees that still beautify the campus were planted.

Chancellor Malott left KU in 1951 to become president of Cornell University, a post he held until 1963, when he became president emeritus of Cornell.

Chancellor Malott served as the chair for the World War II Memorial Carillon Endowment Fund Campaign. He and his wife made a cash gift of $34,174 to the campaign. In 1951, he received KU's Distinguished Service Citation, and in 1988, he received the Fred Ellsworth Medallion from the KU Alumni Association.